We'll see you in May (maybe a little exaggeration)
Today was the last day of Shawn's spring break. (falling tears)
We had so much fun. I had a ginormous list of things I wanted to do with Shawn. And sure enough, we did them all (okay, except go to the beach.... I get wimpy when it's cold outside). Oh, it was so nice to have Shawn around. So, here's what we did.
Cleaned the house (top to bottom, de-cluttered, and made a massive pile of stuff for Goodwill). The kids helped too, by keeping themselves entertained. 
Took a trip to our favorite place in the world - the library
Shawn took Grant swimming
Had a visit from my good friend DeeDee who lives in Salem
Went letterboxing
Visited the Portland Children's museum
Visited Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem
Visited OMSI (where Reagan started walking around on her own - but hasn't done it since)
Shawn watched the kids while I finished my quilt for Jefferson
Visited the Portland Temple
Painted this kitchen hutch that a woman from the ward gave the kids
Painted Easter eggs and made a new wreath to replace the Christmas one (wow, I just realized it matches the kitchen)
Baked cookies, then ate them the same day
Took many many walks
Went to many many parks
Caught up on all the hit movies we've been missing (have I ever told you we LOVE Clearplay?)
Put the kids in Fred Myers play place and went grocery shopping (a fun date, at least for us date-deprived couples).
Did Yard work
We did get a little sleep in there. Did I already mention I loved having Shawn home for a week? It was so awesome! I didn't have 3 kids in the bathroom fighting and getting into my stuff while I was taking a shower, lovely. My dad came up to visit too, which made things even more fun. 
Truly, we wouldn't have had to do anything to have a good week. Just having Shawn around was fun enough. The kids love having Daddy here and actually behave better (does that make me a horrible mom?) If I didn't already mention it, it was the greatest week ever since Shawn was home! Back to school and studying...... see you this summer. I'll start on my list of things to do :-)
Inside the boxes are small notepads and a stamp. We take OUR stamp and mark their notebook and use THEIR stamp to mark our notebook. I guess it’s just a fun scavenger hunt sort of thing that we can take anywhere around the country… seriously ,these things are hidden everywhere. Hillsboro has close to 20. We had to go out and get a stamp for our family (some people make their own stamps, but we’re too lazy for that). We really liked the hand prints; they represented our little kids well. 
Then we set out on our trek. My dad was visiting with us this week, so he came along for the fun. One of the clues led us to Dairy Creek Park. 
Follow the bark path in a South/SE direction, until you reach the Dairy Creek creekbed. You'll know it because you have to go through it! Down and up again,
then under the railroad tressle. 
Follow the trail up and to the left, and just as you're heading downhill again, STOP. Look to your right. There's a skinny tree stump next to a large tree. The stump has a couple of really big blackberry vines growing out of it. Guess what else is in there?
Don’t wear khaki’s and make sure to wear really good shoes…. You may slip and find yourself very muddy. 
We had a lot of fun. The boys loved walking through nature and being boyish. 
When we got close to each box, they got excited to find the “buried treasure.” 
Goofing around with their Papa was the best part though. 
Yes, they’re actually holding hands, LOVE IT!! This is definitely something we’ll continue to do, just every once in a while. 
Reagan just enjoyed being carried around. This is what she thought of letterboxing… 
The boys enjoyed walking around the temple and were fascinated with the Angel Moroni. They were pretty upset that they couldn't go inside though. Jefferson said "I can't wait to get married to Reagan in the temple, but not this temple, the one in California." 
Dipped and covered with chocolate (we had an accident)
The thin mints were easier to make. We just made the dough, which started out looking really gross, but came around. 
Rolled into into 2 long rolls (that looked like turds), wrapped them and froze them for a couple hours. Took them out of the freezer, sliced them, then dipped them into chocolate. 
The best thing about these recipes is that neither one called for eggs, so Grant can eat them, yeah, he can have some normalcy! 
Who could possibly sleep comfortably without a pillow? So, of course one had to be made to match (this is a very loved doll).
I wanted to see if quilting was even possible for me, so I started small. Now I'm working on something bigger, maybe a little too big for me, Jefferson is the only one in the house without a blanket on his bed (poor -cold- child)...... I've taken on the challenge of making him one, we'll see how it turns out.